That's life
by nolongerusingthis
Summary: workin' on my summeries yall... this is a story about what happens later in Ben's life... first fanfic here! FINISHED! Dedicated to TheTorch, my first reviewer...
1. the trip

Ok, this is a story mostly about Ben, after the movie. Quite a bit later. (You'll see what I mean.)

Fist fanfic!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the fantastic four characters, Though that would bepretty cool!

* * *

* * *

Ben woke up and looked at over at Alicia. He smiled and quietly got out of bed. (Thanks to the new Tempur-Pedic mattress by NASA he could do so without waking her.) He began to get dressed. He would go to the Baxter Building while Alicia went to visit on of her friends. Normally, she would go with him, but she and her friend, Jana, was planning a trip to visit Alicia's family.

As he left the room, he saw his reflection in a mirror. There, around his neck, (on a necklace), was his wedding ring. He remembered when he purposed to Alicia. It was like a magical dream to him. At first, he didn't know what the rest of the team would say. Would they say it was too dangerous? … Possibly. But he soon found out different. They thought it she was great for him,Alicia had soon became good friends with them all.

By know Alicia had awakened. She came into the room Ben was in, and sat in a chair. She knew he was there. Some times she wished she could see him though. **_Good_** **_morning_**, she heard him say. "Good morning baby," she said with a smile…

_**Later at the Baxter building. **_

"So, Alicia almost ready for her trip?" Sue asked Ben. "Yeh, her friend and her are leaving tomorrow," he replied as his smile faded. "Don't worry, she'll be alright Ben." "Ahuh," mumbles Ben nodding his head. Just then Johnny comes running through the door. "Hay Pebbles, I got a new game today! Wanna play, or should I say, wanna loose?" He says.

"Go on Ben," says Sue, rubbing his back as one would an upset child. "It'll help get your mind off things." "All right," says Johnny, "I've been waitin all morning to whip yo tail! You're going down!" Then they go off into the other room, bugging each other.

Sue sighed as she watched them leave and smiled. Reed came in and put his arm around his wife. He watched Johnny and Ben and just rolled his eyes. "What? I think there getting alone much better. Almost like brothers," says Sue. " I think I'll go call Alicia."

* * *

"So, Alicia, you think you're almost ready to go?" Sue asks over the phone. "Yeh, we'll be flying on Delta Airlines. Jana's taken one of those before and says It's pretty good." Says Alicia. 

"Where are you going again?"

"Helena, Montana."

"Cool! Listen, Ben's a little upset at by this trip. Maybe you should talk to him."

"Or, I could take him out to eat somewhere."

"Good idea Alicia, I can get you reservations."

"Sure!"

* * *

"That was real nice of you Alicia," Ben said later. "You should thank Sue, we were talking and thought you could use some cheering up." Says Alicia. Ben just smiled. He could always count on Sue. 

From the start, when Reed was caught up in experiments, that was all he was. A scientist. Every thing had to be complicated, exact. And Johnny, _sigh_, Johnny was just Johnny. He was always caught up in himself. Always, just himself. They are starting to change now. They are coming to understand each other's feeling, and emotions. Were becoming more of a "family" you might say. But even before they became a "family" Ben could always count on Sue… _Always_.

That night he didn't want to go to sleep. He didn't want to close his eyes, for in the morning Alicia would leave. He wanted to see her as long as he could. Soon though, sleep began to overcome him. "_Just one more glance_," He thought as he closed his eyes, "_Just let me see here one last time before I fall asleep_."

* * *

Sue looks out the window and sees Alicia talking to Ben. She tells him something, and Ben just stands there with his mouth open. Then he says something to her and kisses her on the forehead. This made Sue vary curious, and she turned invisible. "You aren't" she hears. She rematerializes and turns around. There stands Johnny with a sly grin on his face. "What?" Sue says with a look of guilt. "I wasn't doing anything, I swear!" "You say I am bad," Replies Johnny. "And here you are going to spy on Ben." "I…I…I." Stutters Sue. She new she had been caught. "The only question I have," Johnny starts, "Is… Why?" 

"Well," Sue says with a sigh of relief, "Alicia was talking to Ben and he got the most wonderful, yet somewhat frightened, look on his face." "Odd," states Johnny, heading for the door, "C'mon, you're supposed to be wishing Alicia off." "Coming, coming!" She yells after him.

* * *

"We'll miss you sooo much while you're gone," says Sue as she hugs Alicia. Jana was waiting in the car, and honking the horn at her. "We've gotta go!" Jana yells out the window. "We're gunna be late!" "OK!" she yells back. "Don't worry Ben, I'll be alright. You know, you worry too much!" Alicia says giggling softly. She kisses him and goes over to the car. "Alicia was right, you're such a worry-wart." Johnny says then goes off down the sidewalk.

"Where are you going?" Sue shouts after him. "Out!" Johnny yells back. "UGHHH!" Moans Sue, turning to go inside. She turns back to Ben. "Come on, she'll be alright." She says. Ben turns finally, and goes inside.

* * *

**So, whata ya think? remember, my first fanfic here! Reviews are greatly wanted! I'll try to update soon! **

**see ya!**

**Calla Wood**


	2. What's going on here?

ok, here's another chapter. Thanks thetorch for reviewing. sorry it's kinda boring right now, and that the chapters are sorta short.

any way, i dont own fantastic four, but that would be cool!

* * *

"Where the heck is Johnny?" Sue yelled as she redialed his number again for the 11th time. "Don't worry Sue," comforted Reed as he put his hand on his wife's soldier. "I know, but he's been gone for and hour, and it's begun to pour outside!" She replied as lightning flashed, and the lights shut of for a few seconds. Sue had been trying to call Johnny ever since it started to storm about 45 minutes ago, and Reed had **_finally _**stopped working in the lab, partially because of the bad weather, and partially because of Sue.

Suddenly, the door flung open, and Johnny walked through. "Where have you been?" Yelled Sue. "Don't you know that it's storming outside?" "Yeh, this girl let me stay at her place until it lightened up. When it didn't I left… well, that might have been because I burnt her curtains…" Sue just gave him a dirty look. "What! It's not like I burnt the couch! Like the time I was at Jain's house, and…" Sue cut him off… "Ok! Enough!" she said. "You know to be careful with your powers!" "Be careful with your powers." Johnny mocked Sue. She slapped him with a book laying her bed. "Owww!" he cried, before leaving to go to his own room.

"Hay you guys!" he heard Ben's rough voice from the living room. "Come here quick!" They hurried into the other room. Sue raised her hand to her mouth when she came into the room. There on the TV was a terrible plane crash. It was a Delta Airline. The man on the TV said they had found no survivors.

"Do you know what plane Alicia and Jana was on?" Johnny asked suddenly becoming serious again. Ben just shook his head. "…I…I…I'm sure that wasn't Alicia's plane, Ben." Said Sue in a reassuring, yet frightened tone, "She's probably in a hotel by now and resting from the long flight." Ben didn't say anything, but quietly rose from his chair and went into his room. The rest of the four just stood there and watched him. They didn't know **_what_** to say. They all knew neither Alicia nor Jana had called.

"I'll go talk to him," Sue stated a few minutes later. Reed nodded and she left the room. Coming to Ben's room she knocked gently on the opened door, and went in. Sitting beside Ben she said, "It's been awhile since you've been in here, huh?" "Ahuh," was his only reply. Sue sighed "Look, Ben, I know how you feel, I almost lost Reed, and, well, maybe it wasn't her plane. Maybe…" "No, You don't understand!" Ben's booming voice cut her off. "You don't know what it's like to loose your…" His voice softened. "Huh?" Sue replied with a questioning look on her face, "What do you mean, Ben?" Suddenly she remembers earlier today, but doesn't quit know why. "I… well… Just nothing!" Ben said as he left the room, "I'm going out."

* * *

oooh! a little cliffy! ha ha, review and i'll update!


	3. Thoughts

Sorry for taking so long, i suddenly realised i had no idea what to put in this chapter... hope it's ok! Also, if you like my story, and X-men, I have a cross-over story over in Xmen: Evo. It doesn't have Alicia though, but it does have my charrie named Night's Darkness in it! Yay!

**_Disclaimer: _dont own FF, or Sports Illistrated, or anything else in here.**

* * *

"Where'd Ben go?" Johnny asked as Sue came into the room. she shrugged, "I don't know, and besides, he needs to be alone."Sue sat down and they sat there for a few minutes."I wonder what he meant," Sue said thoughtfully. "About What?" replied Reed. "I told Ben I know what it's like to think you've lost someone you love," she began blushing, "And then he said I didn't know what it's like to loose your... and stopped." Sue and the others looked very confused.

"What do you think he meant?" Johnny asked. "I don't know, I hope he's alright..." Sue replied "Me too, I Feel so bad for what's happened." added Reed "Well, It's getting late," Johnny said yawning, "I'm going to bed." "we should all go to bed." announced Sue standing up and facing Reed, "C'mon, we'll **_all _**feel better in the morning."

* * *

That was a lie. They felt just as bad the next day...

except for Johnny, of coarse...

Sue walked in to the lab where Reed was working. As she turned invisible, she walked over to where he was and looked at what he was working on. He wasn't really working... she could tell. She put her arms around his neck, laying her head on his. Instantly, of coarse,he new it was her. "Good morning Sue," he said with a smile, " I didn't know you were awake." Once again visible, Sue replied softly, "You need to stop that..." "hmm? What?" "Telling yourself your fine... that nothings wrong." Reed turned and sighed, "I know, It's just" Sue put a finger to his lips to silence him... then, disappeared. "That's not fair," Reed said, though he knew she was gone

Without really even meaning to, Ben dreamed of her... her voice so soothing to him. He remembered how he had first met Alicia. How she saw him as he truly was, Ben Grimm, not The Thing, as so many people had begun to know him as. He, too, remembered Debra... the look on her face when she saw what he had become. The rocky exterior that now contained him...Trapped as if in a cage made of the strongest metal. No way to get out. The machine intended to change them back had been taken apart, shut down, but Ben wouldn't change back even if he did have the chance too.

His dreams shifted, suddenly, to his friends.He remembered when they had first battled Dr. Doom. Where was he now? He had somehow escaped, but to where? Was it he, who was to be held accountable for this? For revenge? Did he have cameras hidden about the building? But the Baxter was such a big building... how would they find them? So many questions without a single answer. Then he dreamt something else... another fate, he could not bare to think of. How he wished his dreams would allow him to wake... and suddenly, he did.

Johnny came back, God only knows where he was. he sat on the couch and began reading a _Sports Illustrated_ magazine. His mind, also, a wild highway of questions. He was always curious, and kept coming back to what Sue said the night before... Johnny thought he might know the answer, but laughed when he thought more of it. 'Oops!' he though, 'Did I just do that out loud?' He had, and Sue heard him. "What are you laughing about?" She asked, annoyed at his presence. "Nothing," he lied. "Yeh, ok... sure!" She walked off. 'God! She is so annoying!' he thought.

Reed came in the room, he had given up trying to work. "Looks like everyone's up," said Johnny "Wait, no, where's Ben?" "Still asleep... I think." Reed replied with a slightly confused look on his face,"Uh, did you just call him Ben?" "Must have,maybe I have a fever or sumthin'." "You must, you hardly ever say that." "Uh, I'm gunna go lie down."

As he walked to his room he thought of how lame he had just sounded. But they were seriously getting on his case. They seem to do that allot! He threw himself on the bed and reached under his pillow for another magazine. He didn't really read it, he was thinking again. Soon, to his surprise, he fell asleep.

Sue toyed with the idea that Johnny was lying, but maybe for once he had told the truth! She loved her brother, but sometimes he could be so weird! She often wondered if there was something really wrong with him. Yeh, maybe there was a psycho in the family, generations before, and Johnny inherited it! Ha! That would be funny! Maybe he was adopted... not even really kin to him! 'I wish!' she thought.

* * *

**Ahh! So Johnny really does care! I probily have you all confused about Ben now... especialy the end of his dream. Well Good!**

**review please, good or bad. I'll update sooner this time!**

**see ya!**


	4. Bereavement

OMG! Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I just completely blanked and forgot it for a while! My teachers have been swamping me with work, Gosh! Leave me alone for at least 5 min. people! But I'm back and I am soooo sorry! (Times 1million) Anyway, The story is starting to get close to all the answers, so hang in there. If you cant stand the suspense or have any questions let me know.

Again I don't own any of the characters though it would be nice.

* * *

It had been three weeks since the accident and Ben had had enough. He headed to the lab where once again Reed was sitting at his desk at work. He had told Ben let the police handle it, but three weeks! It had been long enough. It was going to end now. Enough nonsense. Ben knew it was because they knew not the hostility of the matter. "But they do know she's my wife, and here they are just sitting around like a vacation and nothings the matter!" He thought.

He stormed into the lab and up to Reed. "Reed enough! We can't just sit here waiting for her to just walk through the door any more!"

Reed just nods, _yes._

"We must go and find her, now!"

Reed nods, _no._

"But, we, she..." Reed stops him. Then he said in a sorrowful voice...

"Ben, we cant...They, they found her body this morning."

Ben stands, mouth agape…

* * *

Ok, now people will hurt me. I must run and hide! No, this is not the end of the story... it would be too crappie of one.

I will update tonight, because I have to turn this in tomorrow for a writing contest my teacher made mandatory.


	5. Comfort and Hope

Ben sits in his old room at the Baxter, on his old bed. He feels lost, heartbroken, eleminated from the world. The one person who understood him. The one person who knew what it was like to be different... Gone... Forever. He was stranded... again, on some lonely island in the middle of nowhere. Why?

At this point, he cant stand it any more. Right there, all alone, he cries. He doesn't care what Johnny says. He doesn't care if he still has Sue and Reed and Johnny. He just doesn't care. Nothing right now makes sense. No one else in the world is like him. Nothing. No one. Alone.

Yet, there she is again. Sue appears in the doorway as if by magic. "Why does she always show up?" He asks himself. She's a friend... a comforter... a solder to cry on... Hope. She sits down beside Ben and starts to speak. Slowly, as if choosing her words carefuly, but she does.

"Ben," she begins, "I... I just heard. I am so sorry." Some how, _It'll be ok_, doesn't seem like a good thing to say. She knows it wont. "Maybe it wasn't her body," says Ben, looking over at Sue. "Maybe it was a mistake, and it's not realy her."

Suddenly, Reed bursts through the door. Oddly enough, he has a excited look on his face. "You wont belive what the guys down in forinzics just told me on the phone." "Uh, it wasn't Alicia they found?" states Sue. "Yeh, how'd you guess?"

Just then, they hear slow, steady, claping behind them. Reed turns, and there stands none other than Dr. Doom. "Congradulations Reed, I knew you'd figure it out. But to bad, because even if she gets out, she wont find you." He stand with his feet planted firmly on the ground, ready to fire a ray of energy at Reed, when a flame hits him on the back of the head.

"You realy didn't think locking me in a closet would do any good, did you?" Johnny laughs from behind Doom. "No." "Oh... You didn't? Well, never mind then." He throughs another flame at Doom and flies out the window.

* * *

Well, the battle was long... Doom, in all his errogance, even tried to run once... but they caught him. Finaly, they were able to capture him and left him for the cops to deal with.

Oh yeah, they found Alicia too. Yep, Doom had had her locked up the whole time. Sue finaly got to get her question answered... And Guess what... Johnny was right, for a change:

* * *

"So Alicia, What did you tell Ben before you left? I, uh, was sorta spying on you, uh, out the window." Sue admits shyishly.

"What! Ben didn't tell y'all. I'm going to have a baby, that's all." Alicia anounces.

"That's all! Alicia thats great!"

And with that they all go inside, chatting away about the new baby.

Well, that's it! That's the end of my tell. Poor Ben, Dr. Doom should stay in Latviria where he belongs! But, you know, when it all comes down to it... that's how it will always be...

That's life.


End file.
